Bruges Lace takes it's name from the Belgian town of the same name. When someone asks where handmade lace is still made, the first place that comes to many lips is Bruges. It is not the only place, but certainly the most famous. If you visit the city you quickly find as many lace shops as there are restaurants. Most of these shops import lace made in asia to keep up with the great demand by tourists for a sample of lace to bring home.
Many years ago lace making began in Italy and Flanders (later to become Belgium). Flanders grew it's own flax which was one of the reasons it was here that lacemaking blossomed. The lace was some of the finest in the world. Many lace types developed in this area including Mechlin, Flanders, Brussels, Binche, Lille, Bayeux, and Duchess. During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries lace was in great demand by the rich but after the Napoleonic wars the demand for lace dropped drastically. It was at this time that the inventive ladies of Bruges began developing their own lace with heavier thread that could be made more quickly. Bruges lace is a simplification of Duchesse without the heavier gimp thread. It is generally not a lace used in lengths of trim for clothing as that fashion had almost died. It was most commonly made up of "motifs" used as appliques and doilies.
This lace was snapped up by the burgeoning tourist trade, of the new middle class. This saved the area and kept Bruges the lacemaking center of the latter half of the 19th and the 20th century. It still maintains a lacemaking school know as Kant Centrum (Lace Center)
Today, Bruges lace is popular with beginning lacemakers as it is easier to learn than most lace and is worked with very few bobbins comparatively speaking. It is composed of freely flowing trails of narrow clothwork. These trails form scrolls and connections between the flowers and leaves. This is all kept together with "braids" or narrow bridges between design elements, much like the leadwork in stained glass windows.
A number of books have been written about this, enjoyable to make, lace. Here are some:
1. Bloemwork Pattern Supplement by Vera Cockuyt,
2. Bruges Flower Lace by Edna Sutton,
3. Bruges Flower Lace Patterns by Edna Sutton,
4. Brugger Blumen Kloppelspitzen by Sutton, Edna
5. Grof (Brugs) Bloemwerk by Sonia Vanoosterwijck,
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